Pottstown School District Partners with the W. K. Kellogg Foundation

Planning Grant for Community and Family EngagementPottstown School District received a planning grant of $175,000 from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) inJanuary 2014 to focus on community outreach and family engagement. While Pottstown has offered many servicesand programs for parents over the years, participation has been low and despite outreach efforts, many parentsdid not feel included in the various available programs.

With the support of the planning grant and in collaboration with the Penn Project for Civic Engagement, PottstownSchool District launched a community outreach process to build relationships with families and agencies in thecommunity culminating in four community-wide conversations. The discussions were designed to engage parentsof children ages Pre-K through third grade concerning their needs and values and to determine how the schooldistrict can more effectively partner and work with families of young children.

Nineteen hours of community conversations were used by Penn Project for Civic Engagement to create five valuebased principles to guide our work with families moving forward.

Help Us to be BetterParents want to be educated and involved with their children. They want to learn both academic and developmentalskills that help them support their children and be better parents. Academically parents want to learn themathematics and language arts skills their children are learning. And they want to learn how to help their childrenlearn – how to help with their homework, how to set up a good learning environment, how to support them inschool. Developmentally, they want to learn about their children’s social/emotional/ behavioral development andhow to support their children developmentally. Parents want to help their children and they want to learn the skillsand knowledge to help them in that role.

Build Stronger CommunityIt is not just the substance of the program that matters, but the kinds of relationships that are encouraged andenhanced among participants. With this in mind, parents discussed the need for programs to be designed in waysthat build connections among participants, whether they be parents/caretakers or professionals or children.Parents discussed their desire to talk with other parents and to share information. They want to be connected toother parents who are going through similar situations. They also talked about building stronger relationshipsbetween parents and professionals that serve them and their children –whether those professionals are teachers,administrators, case workers or others in the school district, preschool program or community agency.

Address the Needs of Individual ChildrenParents want support and programs to be individualized to meet children’s needs and to learn how to supporttheir children at the child’s level and move them to the next level. At the programmatic level, programs should bedifferentiated for learning, behavior, emotional and social needs as well as to provide support both in the classroomand at home.

“Talk” with UsParents want intentional and reciprocal engagement with the school district, PEAK and community programs andservice agencies. They want to feel a part of what is happening in their child’s school and in the community.Parents discussed changing the way information is communicated, the language used, the modes and thefrequency of communication so they can better support their child’s education.

Include UsParents want to be included in and contribute to their children’s growth and development, which meansaccessibility is a key issue. Important factors include the times programs are offered, where they are offered, inwhat languages they are offered, how often they are offered, cost, need for child care and transportation andimportance of incentives. Translation/interpretation for Pottstown’s Spanish speaking families was a major issueraised in all community forums.

Moving Forward with a Three-Year Implementation GrantBased on the results of the planning grant, Pottstown submitted an implementation grant application to WKKFin the fall of 2014. We were notified in January 2015 that we were awarded a three-year grant totaling$1,250,000. The implementation grant has five main focus areas.

Pottstown School District is excited about this opportunity to create an authentic family engagement processand to reinforce the partnerships in the community. As we work toward strengthening our community andfamilies, the district is fulfilling its motto of “Building a Better Tomorrow” not only for our students but foreveryone who lives in Pottstown.

For more information on PEAK and our partnership with the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, contact Mary Rieck,PEAK Coordinator at 610-970-6655 or mrieck@pottstownsd.org.

Build a Stronger CommunityPottstown will continue to build and strengthen relationships in the community and createon ongoing community conversation process for gaining input on programming forfamilies. Pottstown School District will partner once again with Penn Project for CivicEngagement to lead this process and develop local leadership and capacity.

Develop and Support Parents as LeadersWe will develop a Parent Advisory Committee to represent the community to the districtand the district to the community. We will also work to develop parent leadership skillsthrough training as group facilitators and other leadership opportunities.

Engage Hard to Reach and Minority CommunityWe will increase outreach, programming and services to the Spanish speaking populationthrough the addition of a Spanish speaking parent educator and outreach specialist. TheBilingual Parent Educator will provide Spanish language parent workshops, providetranslation services and connect with other agencies serving the Spanish speakingpopulation in Pottstown. We will also increase collaboration and partnership withcommunity organizations serving the minority community.

Incorporate Trauma Informed Practices with Children and AdultsWe will work with community agencies and leaders to create a Pottstown AdverseChildhood Experience Task Force in order to become knowledgeable about traumainformed practices and work toward becoming a trauma-informed community.

Improve Success for Pottstown’s StudentsWith a focus on social/emotional development and parent involvement, we will continueto support community classrooms in improving the readiness of students enteringkindergarten.

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